Environmental
Benefits of Organic Agriculture

“Organic
farming is not simply the substitution of approved input materials. It
is the replacement of a treatment approach with a process approach to
create a balanced system of plant and animal interactions.”
—Rodale Institute

Climate - the
challenges ahead for farming and the organic contributionCarbon
sequestration - no-till organic and soil carbon sequestration,
plus the problem with chemical-based no-tillEcology - the ecological dangers of chemical use and the hope for organic agriculture

Climate

Climate
change presents challenges for farmers in all parts of the world. Conventional
agricultural practices have contributed to climate change through heavy
use of fossil fuels--both directly on the farm and in the manufacturing
of pesticides and fertilizers--and through degradation of the soil, which
releases carbon. The depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC) through conventional
farming has not only released carbon into the atmosphere, it has also
limited the fertility and water holding capacity of soils worldwide.

The adoption
of organic methods, particularly no-till organic, is an opportunity for
farming both to mitigate agriculture's contributions to climate change
and to cope with the effects climate change has had and will have on agriculture.Good
organic practices can both reduce fossil fuel use and provide carbon sequestration
in the soil through increased soil organic carbon (SOC). Higher SOC levels
then increase fertility and the soil's ability to endure extreme weather
years. Organic agriculture relies on non-chemical ways of maintaining
fertility, managing pests and controlling weeds, thus eliminating the
need for synthetic fertilizers and toxic pesticides.

Carbon sequestration and no-till organic

Research
from the Rodale
Institute’s Farming Systems Trial® (FST) has revealed that
organic, regenerative agriculture actually has the potential to lessen
the impacts of climate change. This occurs through the drastic reduction
in fossil fuel usage to produce the crops (approximately 75% less than
conventional agriculture) and the significant increase in carbon sequestration
in the soil.

The no-till organic
methods they have developed produce comparable yields to conventional
systems on average, and higher yields in drought
years because of the greater water holding capacity of the organic
soils.

The
Problem with Chemical-Based No-Till

Much
of agriculture relies on tillage, or the turning of soil. This process
has the benefits of aerating the soil, reducing weeds, incorporating crop
matter, and warming the soil. However, tillage can hurt soil aggregation
properties, and lead to erosion by wind and water. No-till agriculture
is becoming more and more prevalent in conventional agriculture, but while
it has been heralded by some as more environmentally friendly, it relies
on the use of toxic herbicides. Chemical-based
agricultural practices have contributed to climate change through heavy
use of fossil fuels–both directly on the farm and in the manufacturing
of pesticides and fertilizers–and through degradation of the soil,
which releases carbon. The herbicide use that conventional no-till depends
on, is no exception.

Furthermore,
USDA research shows that chemical-based no-till just isn't that effective
at sequestering carbon. A 2006 study, “Tillage
and soil carbon sequestration what do we really know?,” led
by a USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) soil scientist, concludes,
“Though there are other good reasons to use conservation tillage,
evidence that it promotes carbon sequestration is not compelling.”
On the other hand, a long-term ARS study, "No
Shortcuts in Checking Soil Health," finds that organic farming
practices build soil better than chemical no-till and have more soil carbon,
as well as better crop yields.

Organic
No-Till

The
adoption of organic methods, particularly no-till organic, is an opportunity
for farming both to mitigate agriculture’s contributions to climate
change and cope with the effects climate change has had and will have
on agriculture.

Organic
no-till agriculture incorporates cover cropping as a critical component
to the system that adds both nutrients and
a weed barrier in the form of mulch. In a no-till organic system, a cover
crop such as hairy vetch is planted in the early fall on a field. In late
spring, as soon as this vetch has flowered, a single tractor equipped
with both an implement to knock down the vetch (photograph above) and
an implement to seed another crop (corn, for example), passes through
the field. Bacteria associated with the vetch, because it is a legume,
add nitrogen to the soil, providing the corn with enough to grow and eliminating
the “need” for nitrogen fertilizer. The vetch provides a mulch
(side photo) so weeds cannot compete with the corn, and the “need”
for herbicides is nonexistent. This is particularly important in light
of the predictions that increased CO2 in the atmosphere will lead to faster
weed growth.

At Rodale, experiments
with this no-till organic system are revealing the immense benefits of
combining the no-till approach with cover cropping. Both the water holding
capacity and the water drainage capacity increase with this system because
of the greater soil aggregation and organic matter content. The increased
humus (organic matter [carbon] that is in a very stable form) in the soil
provides carbon sequestration. A crop’s ability to deal with weather
extremes is increasingly important in this era of climate change and this
ability is directly related to the soil health. Solutions to dealing with
changing weather patterns should focus on soil health as this does, not
on the development of genetically modified “drought-resistant”
plant varieties. This system holds promise not only for grains, but for
transplanted vegetables as well.

Ecology

It
is impossible to discuss the ecological benefits of organic agriculture
without discussing the devastating effects of conventional agriculture.
Conventional agriculture relies on toxic pesticides that contaminate air,
water, soil, and living things; organic agriculture does not allow the
use of toxic pesticides. Conventional agriculture relies on chemical fertilizers
that have been shown to reduce soil organic matter and contaminate waterways
leading to eutrophication and “dead zones”; organic agriculture
does not permit the use of chemical fertilizers and relies instead on
nutrient sources that tend to be less soluble and more stable in the soil.

Pesticides, by their
very nature, kill things. One of the problems with the widespread use
of toxic, synthetic pesticides is that they often kill not only the desired
target of the application, but other species as well. This threatens species
diversity, particularly endangered species.

Besides killing non-target
organisms, many of these synthetic pesticides have deleterious effects
on long-term species survival because they impair their reproductive abilities.
Endocrine disrupting pesticides affect the hormonal balance of wildlife
and humans, often at very low doses (for more information on endocrine
disruption, please read the spring
2008 volume of Pesticides and You, and for information on
low dose effect please read an excerpt from Dr. Warren Porter's presentation from 2007). One very common herbicide, atrazine,
has been linked to serious deleterious effects on the reproduction of
frogs (for more information, read Dr. Tyrone Hayes's 2004 article in Pesticides and You). There are numerous examples of the ecological
devastation caused by pesticide use. Organic agriculture does not use
these chemicals, and therefore eliminates a significant source of toxic
chemical contamination in our environment.

Given that we have
to eat, and in order to feed over 6 billion people on the planet we have
to have agriculture, it is imperative that agriculture be ecologically
sensitive. Good organic practices work to build the soil and maintain
an ecological balance so that chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides
are proven unnecessary. Claims that organic agriculture cannot feed the
world because of lower yields are contested by scientific studies showing
that organic yields are comparable to conventional yields (read
abstract) and require significantly lower inputs. Therefore, organic
agriculture is not only necessary in order to eliminate the use of toxic
chemicals, it is necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of food
production.